Photo: A coal fired power plant in Hanchuan, Hubei province, China / Getty Images
Enugu State Government is on the move to build a 660MW coal-fired power plant in the state.
The project is a part of Governor Peter Mbah’s administration’s strategy to actualise its vision to grow the state’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.
Governor Mbah disclosed the project’s plan to the leadership of the Organized Private Sector Nigeria OPSN) when they visited him at the Government House, Enugu, yesterday.
” I am pleased to inform you that in July, we will break ground for a 660MW coal-fired power plant.
“The outlay in terms of time for building the plant is 24 months. So, our target is to commission that power plant 24 months after the groundbreaking in July,” said Mbah.
Mbah recalled that Enugu State, under his leadership, was the first subnational to set up an electricity market, following the Constitution and Electricity Act amendments that effectively transferred power from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List, thus paving the way for states to participate in all the power value chain, namely generation, transmission, and distribution.
He said: “But we have gone beyond just setting up the electricity market to now producing the electricity here.”
The governor allayed concerns normally associated with coal, citing the low sulfur content and high calorific value of Enugu coal, standing at about 7,000 kilocalories per kilogramme.
He said the project was not a knee-jerk decision, as his administration had taken about two years to undertake the necessary studies and also secure coal assets to guarantee unhindered supplies to the plant.
